Low volume clinical work

Scottish Medical Appraisal & Revalidation Toolkit Role specific additional considerations Low volume clinical work

There is a growing number of doctors (not just GPs) who do limited number of clinical sessions.

Doctors are required to show that they are "up to date and fit to practise". This implies that they should undertake sufficient work to maintain their skills. The GMC does not prescribe how many hours work are necessary for this purpose.

This section is the toolkit is not about identifying any formal "safe" levels for working. Each health board will have their own minimum level of work set to quality for appraisal so you are best to seek advice from them for clarifications. This section looks at helping the doctor to reflect on how you keep up to date (and safe for patients) and how to prepare for your appraisal. Think of this section as more of a prompt to discuss with your appraiser:

How do you stay up to date?
How do you benchmark your work against colleagues?
What areas of your PDP do you need to focus on?
Or do you need to consider restricting your practice?

Below are some resources which you might find helpful for consideration.

Further resources

Doctors who undertake a small volume of work may find it useful to refer to the NHS England guidance "Supporting doctors who undertake a low volume of NHS General Practice clinical work", March 2019(6).

Whilst the document is intended for GPs it makes a number of points that are helpful and relevant for all doctors who undertake a small volume of work to consider when approaching an appraisal.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has a "Low volume of clinical work structured reflective template (SRT)" which you might also find useful (the reflection tool below is based on this template).

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, the membership body for the UK and Ireland’s 24 medical royal colleges and faculties, has a "Factors for consideration" template for doctors wishing to reassure themselves that they are competent across the whole scope of their work including those doing a low volume of a particular scope of practice, especially clinical practice.

This BMA (British Medical Association) article may also be of interest: Staying on top when your work drops off (bma.org.uk)

Further resources

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